Teen nets second national writing honor

While a writer’s life is often spent in quiet places without a lot of public fanfare, Hood River Valley High School senior Elizabeth Gobbo found herself in the limelight this month when she received notice of her publication in the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers — (Scholastic Books) The Best Teen Writing of 2012.

This is Gobbo’s second time being published at the national level, having been selected for the same publication’s collection as a “best teen writer” in 2010.

“I feel so lucky,” said Gobbo, acknowledging that many other good writers at HRVHS entered the contest as well.

Prior to both publications, Gobbo’s poetry and short stories were first entered in competition with over 100,000 other teens’ work from across the U.S. through the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition. She originally took both gold and silver medals before advancing to final publication. For the annual publications, Gobbo was one of only 50-70 writers receiving the final honor.

Gobbo’s writing was also recognized locally with the award of the Laura Douglass Schaefer Memorial Writing Contest prize last spring through the Gorge Community Foundation for her piece entitled “Primary,” viewable on the GCF website.

This year’s winning piece is categorized under “flash fiction,” a short story of under 1,300 words. Gobbo’s work is entitled “Puna” and chronicles a moment in time of a young Laotian single mother now working in a bowling alley in the U.S.

Gobbo hasn’t determined whether writing will be her chosen field of study in college and is still considering how to weave that calling into her love of music and foreign language study. She does hope to enter this year’s Scholastic contest, vying for a senior portfolio scholarship.